Peregrine Falcon Off Endangered List
By MATT KELLEY, AP
12:02 AM ET 08/20/99
WASHINGTON
(AP) - The world's fastest bird, once driven to the brink of extinction in the United
States by now-banned pesticides, is soaring off the endangered species list. Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt planned to remove the peregrine falcon from the endangered list
Friday in a ceremony at a Boise, Idaho, center for breeding birds of prey.
``It's a genuine success,'' Babbitt said in a conference call with reporters
Thursday evening. ``The message here is that the Endangered Species Act works ... that is
the message that comes at us at 200 miles per hour with the peregrine falcon.''
At the bird's low point in 1970, only 39 breeding pairs existed in the
continental United States - all west of the Mississippi, said Jeff Cilek of The Peregrine
Fund. Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates more than 1,650 breeding pairs of
peregrines live in North America.
The highest number are in the West, with 167 pairs in California, 164 in Utah
and 159 in Arizona.
Dropping the peregrine from the list means it loses some of the strictest
protections of federal law, such as shielding its habitat from development. The federal
Migratory Bird Treaty Act still makes it illegal to kill the falcons or possess their
feathers or body parts without a rare federal permit.
While Babbitt cited the 1973 Endangered Species Act as a big factor in the
peregrine's recovery, falcon experts say the key to saving the birds was the 1972 ban on
DDT and later restrictions on the use of similar pesticides. Peregrines that accumulate
DDT and its chemical cousins from eating contaminated prey lay eggs with thin shells that
often break and kill the chicks.
``If that (DDT ban) hadn't happened, we wouldn't be here today, Endangered
Species Act or no,'' said Peregrine Fund founder Tom Cade.
The ban on DDT was prompted by concerns for such birds as the peregrine falcon
and the bald eagle.
Private groups like The Peregrine Fund have released more than 6,000 peregrines
hatched in captivity. Falconers prize the peregrine for its speed, which can reach more
than 200 mph when diving to catch prey, Cade said.
``Its performance in the air and courtship aerobatics are really spectacular,''
he said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to monitor peregrine populations for 13
years to ensure they don't get in trouble again. Peregrines prey on smaller birds such as
pigeons and starlings, zooming down on them from above to catch and kill them in midair.
The falcons lay their eggs and raise their young on high ledges such as cliffs,
skyscrapers, smokestacks and bridges, and they have thrived in urban environments.
``To see a falcon cruising down Wall Street and looking for pigeons and moving
in on them, as I have, is an amazing sight,'' Babbitt said.
The American peregrine falcon is the sixth U.S. species to recover enough to be
removed from the endangered species list, which currently includes about 1,200 plants and
animals in the United States. The other recovered species are the brown pelican, the
American alligator, the Rydberg milk-vetch (a small plant in the pea family), the gray
whale and the Arctic peregrine falcon. Seven U.S. species on the list have become
extinct, and another seven have been removed because scientists discovered they were
variants of other species or were not endangered in the first place.
LISTEN TO THESE STORIES IN AUDIO!
Peregrine
Falcons The Interior Department declared the peregrine falcon fully recovered
from its status as endangered, and today removed it from the Endangered Species List.
NPR's Allison Aubrey reports on how biologists used city skyscrapers to find new habitats
for the bird, and in so doing, educated city-dwellers in wildlife behavior.
FALCON
POPULATION HAS RECOVERED Jyl Hoyt from member station KBSX in Boise Idaho
reports that the peregrine falcon population has recovered. The Department of Interior
announced yesterday the falcons may be taken off the endangered species list.
Endangered
Species Act Doug McPherson of New Hampshire Public Radio reports that
peregrine falcons may be taken off the Endangered Species Act list. Thirty years ago, the
peregrine was in danger of extinction. When Congress passed the Endangered Species Act in
1973, the falcon became one of the first animals listed as "endangered." Today
the falcon is making a strong recovery and the government has proposed to remove it from
the Endangered Species list. The proposal comes at a time when the Endangered Species Act
is facing criticism. That's prompted speculation that the government may be responding
more to political pressure than to scientific evidence.
NON-ENDANGERED
LIST Robert and Noah read from a list of plants and animals that are about to
be removed from the Endangered Species list, including the American Bald Eagle and the
American Peregrine Falcon.
Top of Page
